DIY Clay Ring Dish

If you’re addicted to Pinterest as much as I am, I’m sure you’ve seen several tutorials for DIY Clay Bowls. With Wedding Day Hooray right around the corner, I thought I’d give it a try as a fun handmade goodie for the swag bags. The concept is pretty simple, so instead of going in depth on the bowl making process, I thought I’d share my tips and lessons learned in case you get the itch to create some bowls of your own.

What you will need:

Air Dry Clay
Scrap of cloth
Rolling Pin
Doilies
Large Circle Cookie Cutter (or recycle a large can)
Small bowls (to help form the ‘bowl’ shape)
Sand paper

The photos above show step-by-step instructions for making the clay bowls. Simply roll out the clay, press the doily into the clay using the rolling pin, cut out in the shape of a circle, shape dish over the underside of a small bowl to form shape. Allow dish to completely dry (approx. 24 hours). Once the dish is dry, lightly sand the edges until clean and smooth.

Ok, so that was the fast run through, now here are some time saving tips and suggestions:

1. All clays are not created equal. My first attempt to make these bowls had me pulling my hair out. As it turns out the problem was with the clay. I bought the cheapest brand I could find and it was really sticky and hard to work with. It was also extremely brittle once it dried. The sweet girls at Loot Vintage shared some awesome tips with me, with the biggest tip being the brand of clay – DAS Air Dry Clay. It’s a wee bit more expensive, but well worth it!

2. Clay likes to stick. After peeling clay from my counter, trying to use wax paper and even sprinkling the surface with baby powder, I finally found a solution that worked – cloth! I rolled all of my bowls on a tightly woven scrap piece of fabric. It was so much easier to remove from the fabric than the countertop. Also, because the fabric was so tightly woven, there was little imprint on the bottom of the bowls. Total lifesaver!

3. Time is not always on your side. With 100 bowls to make and just a few days time, I knew I couldn’t wait on each of these bowls to air dry before removing them from the glass dish. The girls at Loot Vintage saved me once again with this handy dandy tip – microwave! After you have formed the clay dish on top of the bowl, pop it in the microwave for a few seconds (approx. 5 seconds). This will allow the bowl to set-up a little bit and allow you to remove it from the glass bowl a little sooner. This way you can continue making more bowls while the rest air dry on the counter. (Warning: You’ll only want to pop them in the microwave for a few seconds. I totally boiled my first bowl when I put it in there for 30 seconds.)

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